How To Create A Convincing Product Vision To Guide Your Team

Working on a product without a decent product vision resembles going into the street with eyes closed. To advance a product (or life) direction helps keep things going and makes actions meaningful.On the other hand, a leader has the responsibility for leading and guiding others as well. PO's and managers need to keep business plans and customer requests in mind while motivating everyone to work towards a common goal. Without direction, a team can’t follow.This article will show how a product vision should look, how to create it and communicate it to all stakeholders in play.

What is Product Vision?

Product vision imagines a product direction in the long-term. Basically it represents the desired state for a product in the future, e.g. the ultimate choice for people who would like to live a gluten-free life, or an aim to significantly increase the mobility of people in wheel-chairs by creating a solution for them.

Typically, product vision defines two to five years’ time or even more – depending on the industry and the product life cycle. Statements or a product vision board can express it.

Some people neglect building a vision, calling it just a bunch of nice unrealistic statements nobody will care about. Those people couldn’t make a bigger mistake.

If done right, a team can define the product’s goals -> create a strategy to reach them -> come up with tactics -> and break it down to the daily tasks they need to fulfill to get closer to the vision. Articulate WHY the product exists and not HOW to reach those goals.

After preparing the vision, start working on a product roadmap and/or create a product backlog (in agile environments).

Why Product Vision is Important

A PO clarifies why certain tasks need doing and gets all stakeholders behind one vision so everyone can work together to reach it.

Direction

Imagine a pirate captain communicating direction (vision) clearly to the crew (investors, business owners, developers, designers, etc), and enabling them able to row with the same intent and rhythm to the same destination. And reaching the land of a thousand treasures!

Prioritization

Vision should be a basis that guides decisions and helps prioritize features or tasks. Does this feature/element/add-on contribute to the goal? If not, channel energy into activities that truly matter. To read more about the details, check out my fellow designer Katica’s super-detailed article about feature prioritization techniques.

Motivation

Motivation also plays an important role here: remind the team at times of the direction so they understand how their roles and daily activities contribute to the bigger picture. This helps them focus more on the work that really makes a difference (in terms of product development).

Some tasks might not seem fancy to everyone but predicate customer happiness and a successful product.

How to Create A Vision

A number of tracks lead to coming up with a winning product vision.

First actually sit down and brainstorm on what problems or pains customers face and how the product solves them, or what the product should achieve. Though some might find it obvious, it poses more challenges than expected.

Who should take part in the process?

The complex task of vision creation requires teamwork. Invite teammates or other stakeholders who can contribute to the bigger picture by providing professional knowledge, passion or visionary skills. Developers, designers, researchers, business or marketing people could all fit there.

But make sure to lead the creation flow and push the team to come to a final understanding.

Cover the following points to start formulating the vision (by Roman Pichler):

Who is the target audience?

Which customer needs can the product satisfy?

Which product attributes determine the satisfaction of those needs?

Who is competing and how do they perform? (internal, external competitors)

What timeframe and product development budget determine the project?

Let’s se how to draw up a decent vision!

Envisioning workshops

After gathering a team of people in mind, work on the visionary statements and lead a workshop on the topic.

Form smaller groups where people can discuss and brainstorm on different questions. At the end of the first session, each team should come up with a list of agreed upon and shareable ideas or answers. After every team has presented their ideas, put the ideas up to vote so to select only the best ideas.

Use different methods and games to utilize the team’s abstract thinking – always keep track of the progress and make everyone involved.

Needs: What do these customers need? What solvable pains and challenges do they face?

Product: Define the product, generic attributes or features that can contribute to customer happiness.

Business goals: Have a clear picture how the product will benefit the company and what the business goals and aspirations led to its creation.

After figuring this out, vision forms the fifth element. At that point, briefly express the purpose of the product and how it will affect customers or the market.

Feel free to revisit this board any time change becomes necessary. Conduct further market research, user tests and other ways of validation; multiple things might change here. Keep everybody up-to-date on the current state of the vision.

Product vision template

When aiming for something short and catchy, use Geoffry Moore’s product vision template as well. The basic formula runs as follows:

For [target customer],

Who [customer need to be solved],

The [product name]

Is a [product category]

That [benefits, unique selling points].

Unlike [competitor product],

Our product [main difference].

With this tool, grab the essence and the uniqueness of the product while defining the aims. This method can work well in an agile environment as well.

What Makes A Good Vision

A vision doesn’t have to turn into a 20-page bible or a shiny poster glued to the wall. Make statements convincing and effective.

How To Communicate The Vision

Finally, present the product vision to everyone involved in the development. Stakeholders must know the direction they are heading so they can maintain confidence in their daily tasks and decisions.

Share the vision in any form – presentations, boards, posters, one-on-one meetings, etc.

Transmit the message so everybody understands it and can connect to and be honest about it. Encourage questions and present use cases: bring examples how vision affects business strategies or lower level decisions.

Speak the language of the product vision’s audience and show them how they can contribute to the betterment of the product.

Product Vision 101:

Gather all information available on personas, client needs and business goals – make it available to everyone.

Create a workshop to brainstorm and collect ideas.

Create a product vision statement or board.

Communicate the final product vision towards all participants.

Change the vision when necessary.

If you want to learn how UX can contribute to the Product Design process, read our Product Design book! We offer worldwide shipping now!